1. Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat
If a Heat team that is still very much alive in the hunt for the No.1 seed gets back on the right track, Butler has the best odds of any player when it comes to potentially ending up on this exclusive team. Anyone who uses the “Siakam missed too many games” excuse and then votes for Butler is being hypocritical.
Siakam has played in 10 more games than the perpetually injured Butler. To add insult to injury, Siakam has done so while outscoring him, outrebounding him, and becoming as valuable of a defensive presence. Now that Toronto is in the playoff picture and the Heat are slipping, the Raptors’ star might beat out Butler.
Toronto Raptors: Pascal Siakam should beat out Jimmy Butler.
Holding Siakam’s somewhat sluggish start against him would be quite the egregious way to bar a deserving candidate from getting the recognition that they deserve. Likewise, promoting a player with inferior numbers in Butler would twist the knife even further into this Raptors fanbase.
If they can look past Butler’s pedigree and place a greater emphasis on what Siakam is capable of doing on a nightly basis, they’ll see clear as day that he takes on more two-way responsibility than Butler. Siakam got snubbed once, and it would be a mistake if he got snubbed again.